Chandigarh, April 24 : Reminding the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann about the promised guarantees to the people, the Mahila Kisan Union President Bibi Rajwinder Kaur Raju has demanded that the Aam Admi Party led Punjab government must fulfill the guarantees given during the assembly elections to put an end the rampant suicides of farmers in the state. In addition to this, the Union has also demanded from the State Government to immediately announce compensation of Rs 500 per quintal to the farmers on the basis of the surveys conducted by the Punjab as well as Food Corporation of India on the shrinkage of wheat grains as well as yield due to scorching heat.
Soliciting this in a statement issued here on Sunday, Bibi Rajwinder Kaur Raju, President of Mahila Kisan Union said both the surveys conducted so far have agreed in principle that the yield per acre had decreased by 6-10 per cent during the current Rabi season due to shrinkage of wheat grains by 10-20%. “Hence low yield of wheat production has caused huge economic losses to the farmers of the state, so the Aam Aadmi Party dispensation should immediately declare compensation of Rs 500 per quintal to the farmers as per the guarantees and promises given to the farmers before the general elections.
Women farmer leader reminded the CM Bhagwant Mann that from the year 2016 to January 2022 and during “Kisan se Kejriwal ka Samvad” program organized in Ludhiana on 29 October 2021, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and you (Bhagwant Mann) had given a guarantee to the farmers that they would ensure that after formation of the AAP government, no farmer would commit suicide from April 1, 2022. Besides this, grand guarantees had been given in writing to the farmers in the party manifesto during the assembly elections of 2022, but the newly elected legislatures, who made big promises for winning their elections as a common man, have now forgotten the plight of the farmers as they were tipsified with power. “That’s why the people of Punjab have become disappointed with this government in a very short span”, she lamented.
Contending further on farmer suicides, women leader Bibi Raju also reminded Bhagwant Mann that he, being party president and MP, was cursing the then governments when visited the homes of farmers who committed suicides to express his sympathies with their families. But now after the formation of his government, why was he silent on the daily suicides committed by farmers? She informed that since April 1, more than a dozen farmers had committed suicides, out of which seven farmers have committed suicide due to economic loss of low wheat yield.
Women leader Bibi Raju demanded that in view of the recent shortage of coal and power crisis, Bhagwant Mann should make arrangements for 24-hour power supply to agricultural tube wells for paddy cultivation during Kharif season in advance and provide quality and improved seeds to the farmers as per the guarantees given in the party’s manifesto.
